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This alternate bath is also especially useful in treating chilblains and in eliminating any local stagnation of circulation that can lead to gangrene.

HAND BATHS

Hand Bath

Immersing the hands in very cold water exercises a powerful influence upon the cerebral vessels and vessels of the lungs. The immersion of the hands in cold water for a sufficient length of time is capable of slowing the pulse and the respiration, and lessening the pressure in the cerebral arteries. Immersing them in a hot bath produces the opposite phenomena. The cold hand bath or simply holding cubes of ice in the hands is an excellent means of checking nosebleed, and has been used to check the bleeding in pulmonary hemorrhage very quickly.

HERBAL BATHS

Herbal preparations added to a bath enhance skin stimulation. At the same time the body absorbs through the skin a great number of the medicinal components of herbal formulations. The action of an herbal bath enhances the blood supply to the layers of tissue close to the skin, and the herbs’ medicinal and tonic actions benefit the body organism in general. Western therapeutic science has substantiated these facts with their official experimentation and by authoritatively announcing its findings (mostly to itself) has finally caught up in this area of therapeutics with centuries-old folkloric herbal science. Further clinical data is still required, however, to convince the more resistant medical authorities and practitioners. In Europe, the work of two extraordinary herbalists, Herr Kneipp and Monsieur Messegue, made the use of medicinal herbs in baths a relatively common procedure. I suggest we lay practitioners move on with our empirical herbal research and let medical science catch up with us again later.

Possibly the best, and certainly one of the most sensually delicious ways of absorbing herbal remedies through the skin, is by bathing in a full-body herbal bath. Life in general is more fun when you’re naked. A full-body herbal bath is certainly more exotic than a tincture, naughtier than an elixir, and a heck of a lot more pleasant than swallowing a capsule or a pill. Herbal bath therapy is economically administered in one’s home and is practical when administered as a weekend course of treatment or as a regularly sustained system of self-pampering health care.

To prepare a herbal bath, one merely has to pour a quart of strong herbal infusion, herbal decoction, or concentrate into the bath water, swirl it around, take off the clothes, slip into the brew, lay back, and relax; high tea is served.

Often volatile oils are placed into the bath water for their aromatic and medicinal effects. Add a total of 10 to 15 drops to an already full bath. Agitate the water to thoroughly disperse the oils before getting in. It is important to bear in mind that when using essential oils, one drop goes a long way. These oils easily penetrate the skin and some may cause skin irritation or sensitivity if not properly diluted or if used in high concentrations. Some people have sensitivity reactions to essential oils; therefore, it is wise to test oneself first by applying the dilute oil to a small skin area before using on larger areas (dilute the volatile oil in a little vegetable oil).

Partial body herbal baths and herbal sitz baths are generally prepared in the same fashion. An herbal foot bath is prepared by pouring a quart of tea into a vessel that is large enough to contain the feet and to this preparation enough hot or cold water is added to cover the feet to the desired height and the desired temperature. This can range from a shallow foot bath where merely the soles of the feet are covered, to one that extends up to the knees.

Herbal hand baths are prepared by simply placing one’s hands into a container of undiluted herbal infusion or decoction. When using essential oils in a foot or hand bath, put 5 to 7 drops into the container of water and disperse fully by agitating the water before getting into it.

Instead of preparing an infusion or decoction